The present invention relates generally to a method for combining an RF-EAS circuit with paperboard. More particularly, the invention relates to such a method whereby the RF-EAS circuits are sandwiched between two webs of paperboard on a printing press or the like. The combined structure may then be converted into disposable RF-EAS security tags or into packaging blanks (e.g., trays, lids, cartons, containers, etc.), at the same time that product ID's and sales graphics are printed on the paperboard.
RF-EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) tags are passive circuits with a resonance frequency tuned to the frequency of tag detectors located at the entrances and exits of retail establishments. When an active tag passes through a detector, an alarm sounds, alerting store employees to the potential theft of the tagged merchandise. State of the art RF-EAS tags are generally produced by a number of steps which include stamping, masking, photochemical treatments, chemical etching and printing. However, the tags currently available are too expensive to be economically used on items retailing for about $5.00 or less. The use of currently available tags entails not only the cost of the tag itself, but the cost of application of the tag to the product or its package, either on a packaging line, in a warehouse, or in the retailer's stockroom.
Such tags may be buried beneath various layers of material without reducing their effectiveness. Obviously, the more deeply the tag is embedded in the merchandise, the more difficult it is to circumvent. For example, an EAS tag in the form of a pressure sensitive label that is applied to a package exterior is easily removed. Such a label located beneath shrink wrap is visible, and can still be removed, but the removal process is more difficult. Tags hidden beneath the product ID label are generally not visible, and thus are more difficult to detect and remove. Meanwhile, a security tag located inside a package is hidden from view, and therefore less likely to be removed, but such tags are difficult to deactivate for a legitimate sale. Thus there remains a need in the art to provide a reliable EAS tag that would be normally hidden from view in use to protect against detection and removal, but easily deactivated when needed for a legitimate sale. The present invention fulfils that need by combining paperboard and an EAS circuit in such a manner that the EAS circuit is completely hidden in use but readily deactivated when necessary.